Friday, July 06, 2007

Pausing in High Definition

This is a tale of the worst customer service I have ever been witness to. I am the victim in the story. Were it not for my love of On Demand, I would have been on the phone with DirectTV days ago. I'm still considering, but it depends on some things.

All I wanted was High Definition television and a DVR box from my new cable company. Now, for background, I am renting my current house from my mother-in-law, to keep the house for her, while she works a temporary position with her company's training infrastructure. We're trying to keep as much as possible in her name, so that her move back is easier.

Here is the tale, in bullet point:

Call and schedule an appointment and backup appointment for HD DVR and a cable modem installation.

Miss the first appointment and figure they were busy.

Call first thing on the day of the backup, to remove the cable modem from the order. The phone company gave me a discount to keep the DSL, that saved me more than a bundle from the cable company.

Find out they never made the appointment. I waited a week for nothing.

I ask if I, not being the account holder, can go in and pick up the box. I am told tha I can.

Going into the location, I'm told I can't pick up the box, even though I have all the information.

My wife is added to the account, and we're told I can pick up the box, being married to an account holder.

Second trip is responded to negatively. When I say the 800 number OK'ed my trip, I am told "You don't need to listen to them, you need to listen to me. I have the boxes."

My wife goes to the location with a friend.

She's told she is not on the account, but that there is a note that her mother called in to add her. Somehow, that was not good enough.

"Isn't that good enough," her friend asks."Who is this," the clerk asks, pointing at the friend and not looking away from my wife. "She needs to not talk."

On that last point, I shit you not.

They take my wife into the back office to tell her she can not get the box. That is strange.

When my wife gets home, I call them again and tell them the story, only to have it confirmed that my wife is absolutely on the account. Their HQ contacts the retail location and tells the manager to expect us and have the equipment ready.

We go back, pick up the box, and bring it home.

They forgot to give us a power cable.

We make a fifth trip to get a power cable.

No one would tell me how much storage the box had, so I still don't know how much I can record on the thing.